movie wasteland

June 10, 2013

I’m finally starting to feel like I’m making progress and lifting that box. What this means is I can now move on to all the chores and things that I had to put aside while working on the more critical chores and things. You see how this gets out of control?

I’m kind of amazed at the movies I haven’t seen, and don’t even want to see, this summer. Used to be I’d go see anything with a whiff of science fiction. A shiny skinsuit or a cyborg monster? Totally there! Dystopian future? Totally there! But this summer I haven’t seen, and really have no interest in: Oblivion, After Earth, or The Purge. It’s like the lesson I learned with Terminator Salvation was brought home last year by Prometheus and Total Recall. I don’t have time for thoughtless, overblown monstrosities of films. (Though I suppose I should give the previous ones a chance for being original monstrosities rather than tired, unnecessary sequels. But…no, I don’t think I should.)

So what am I going to see this summer?

Much Ado About Nothing. Because I love concept Shakespeare. And Nathan Fillion!

Man of Steel. My interest is purely academic. Zach Snyder runs about 50/50 — Watchmen, yay! Sucker Punch, no! But it’s a superhero movie and yet another reboot, and I want to see how they do.

The Lone Ranger. I will confess, my brain is yelling “no!” on this one. But my id is yelling “yes!” (Scruffy men in leather, please!) So I guess I’m still a sucker for some thoughtless, overblown monstrosities.

Elysium. Maybe. Because Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. It actually has a really interesting look to it. I’ll probably wait to hear the buzz before deciding.

I saw Oblivion and had a heated conversation with my husband about the possibility of cloned humans having access to the original humans memories, but I liked Terminator Salvation
and I almost sort of liked parts of Prometheus, at least the Fassbinder parts, otherwise I guess I will wait for Pacific Rim and if Worlds End is the one with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, that one as well. Ok, maybe lone ranger also. Maybe.

I second the suggestion of “Now You See It.” I saw it this weekend and was utterly entranced by a movie that I knew virtually nothing about going into, and which pulled so many twists and turns and kept me guessing about who’s side I was supposed to be on, if anybody’s. And: it’s not sci-fi, but it’s close. Highly recommended!

(My only suggestion: don’t sit too close to the screen. The director likes to swirl the camera around and around around, and I seriously got so dizzy halfway through I had to start closing my eyes for certain shots. Annoying, but luckily, the film was worth it in the end!)

I’m torn over The Lone Ranger. On the one hand, there’s the problematic casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto (really, guys?). On the other hand, it’s by the writers of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies — as well as the director of the first three PotC films, whose whole M.O. is making live-action cartoons — a series for which I am an unabashed fan.

Oblivion was OK, beautiful to look at and had a Daft Punk lite soundtrack (that we all wish was an actual Daft Punk soundtrack 8-).

After Earth had art direction so beautiful and well thought out that it distracted from the story… Probably because there wasn’t much story. Also distracting was Will Smith and son not talking like themselves. Would I have noticed it if I hadn’t seen an interview explaining how they worked with a vocal coach so that they wouldn’t sound like California dudes because you don’t trust a hero that says “Dude! Don’t worry. I’ll totally rescue you!”? I don’t know.